


In His Arms

by AdriaTyler (LyzDrake)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Infanticide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-30
Updated: 2016-04-30
Packaged: 2018-06-05 12:52:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6705166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LyzDrake/pseuds/AdriaTyler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki's children have been continuously ripped from his grasp and tortured all their lives. Now he has another. He can't bear to watch this one be tortured too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In His Arms

He had ten finger and toes. He had no alternate form Odin could lock him away in. He was beautiful. Haraldr, he named him. Perhaps, if he was lucky, he could keep this one. But . . . Odin had taken Hela, and cast her into Helheim, where half of her died. She'd been perfect too. He'd sent Vali and Narfi to their older sister first, when Sigyn had birthed them, and gone straight to the Allfather. It was swift, and painless. Sometimes, Hela let him see them, if only for a moment. 

Fenris had gone next. Years of starvation, chained, and a sword through his mouth had been too much. How could Odin torture his little boy? Yet he'd forced him into wolf shape, and murdered him, slowly and painfully. Loki hadn't even been able to find him to end it swiftly. 

Jormungandr was the next to stay with his sister. Years of living in the ocean had caused his son to be considered a great foe, and Thor himself had come down and fought him. Thor escaped with his life. Her son escaped blind and wounded, unable to fend for himself. He'd starved to death within a few weeks. 

Then Thanos had come, torturing and raping him. And Loki had conceived a son. Desperate to save this one, he'd escaped and attacked Midgard, attempting to secure a realm in which Odin could not interfere. With his failure, he'd broken, shattered into irreparable pieces. 

He'd allowed Thor to take him to Asgard. After arriving, Loki escaped and made for the stables. Sleipnir had been the only child he'd spent any time with. He'd defied Odin to keep going back and trying to free his son. This time, he granted his son another freedom. It was quick, a poison apple. His son had known, and he'd taken it anyways. Over a thousand years as his grandfather's steed had broken him in ways his other siblings hadn't been.

Haraldr had none of the Titan's features. He was beautiful, and perfect, but it was his time to go to Hela. The Avengers were at his door. Thor was with them. Before, Thor had held him down, made him watch Odin torture his children, sewn his mouth shut, and caused the death of Jormungandr. Haraldr would never be safe. Hela would make sure he was loved, as she had with the seven he'd never given birth to. 

His son smiled at him as Loki fed him one last meal. It was laced with something Hela had given him. It would send his child straight into his sister's arms. "I love you." He whispered softly. Maybe one day, Hela would take him with her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Avengers approached the normal house with caution. Loki was in it, and with the lack of trouble he'd caused, they were worried he was up to something big. Thor went in first, Steve on his heels. What they saw made their hearts stop. The rest of the Avengers behind them gasped at the scene. Loki was in a rocking chair in the first room. He was holding what appeared to be a sleeping child. He didn't notice the Avengers, even as they broke down his door. His entire world was the child in his arms. Thor didn't move, so Steve approached. Loki ignored him as he got close enough to see that the child wasn't breathing. Then his hand touched the child, and Loki flew into a rage. One hand clutching the body to his chest, his magic was flung at the Avengers. 

"You can't have him!" He snarled. Steve recoiled. Thor just looked troubled. 

"Brother, what did you do?" He asked gravely. 

"Hela has him now!" Loki said hysterically. "You can't hurt this one!"

Thor frowned. "This one does not seem to be a monster. I would not have touched it."

The rest of the Avengers recoiled. Had Thor just implied that he'd harmed other children of Loki's, due to appearance?

"You killed Jor!" Loki screeched. "You held me down as Odin stole Hela from my arms. You chained Fenris and stabbed a sword through his mouth! You let Odin take Sleipnir from my arms, and you never fought for them! Haraldr would have been just as abused as the rest of my children, Odinson!" Loki was insensible, but the Avengers were outraged. 

The rest of the Avengers recoiled from Thor. "You harmed his children?" Natasha asked with disgust. 

"They were monsters." Thor said with a toss of his head. "I had every right."

"They may have been monsters, but they were mine! They never hurt anyone, but everyone hurt them!" Loki screamed, before he collapsed. 

The Avengers rushed forward to find him cold and unconscious. He may get his wish of going with Hela after all. 

The doctors at SHIELD confirmed what they'd suspected. Internal bleeding from the birth. This child was Loki's last. 

Thor sat by his brothers side, but the only time he woke, he refused to look at the killer of his son. 

Three days after Loki collapsed, Hela appeared in the hospital room. "I am here to claim Loki Laufeyson's soul. Does anyone challenge my claim?'

Thor stood angrily. "I do! Loki is Odinson, and I shall take his soul to Valhalla and my father!"

"Loki is Laufeyson, and I would not entrust the soul of my father to the one who would kill my brother and hunt the rest. Your claim is invalid."

Thor roared with anger, but the Avengers came in and pinned him against the wall. Steve spoke up. "You're Loki's daughter?"

"I am." Hela nodded. 

"Some of what he did wasn't right, but I recon losing children is as good a reason as any to lose it. Will he see the rest of you when you take him?"

"He'll be with us for the rest of eternity." Hela promised. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loki opened his eyes to find himself in a meadow. Around him were his many children, and Hela held Haraldr in her arms. "Welcome home, Papa." She said softly as she placed his son where he belonged: in Loki's arms.


End file.
